And The Reason Is You
by Emotional-X-Avenue
Summary: It doesn't take much to realize that you have probably just lost something you may never get back. It's up to the reciever, to decide whether to let go, or hold on... suck at summaries! please read. SasuSaku
1. Chapter 1

And The Reason Is You - - Emotional-X-Avenue

"You ready?" Sakura's mother teased. _Far from it_, Sakura thought. No one is completely ready for a new environment - let alone a new school. It wasn't that Sakura wasn't used to it; she just wasn't used to _this_ kind of change. Massive couldn't completely define the size of this school – and, not talking about physically, either. The school held over 1,600 students. Now _this_ Sakura was far from used to. She had grown up in a very small community: a school that only consisted of around 500 students. This was a huge step for her.

"Yeah mom," Sakura mumbled, "I'm enthusiastic."

Her mother looked at her, and shrugged. "I tried. Well, at least pretend to be happy…?"

Sakura stared at her mother. She stared back. "Fine," she mumbled again, and smiled.

"Now_ there's _that beautiful smile." Her mother teased, and patted her shoulder. This never worked. Quite frankly, Sakura never really saw any meaning in the _shoulder tap_. She felt like a puppy, and at this point, Sakura had grown out of her 'puppy' stage. Sakura wasn't a miserable person. If not, she was the happiest, most giddy girl around. Only with her mother, she seemed _different_.

She took a breath, and slowly opened the car door. The wind caught her hair, and tousled it. Huffing, she grabbed it, and threw it into a messy pony-tail. _I should really cut this…_

"Bye, honey. I'll pick you up at two-thirty. And remember: _breathe!"_ she laughed.

She watched her mother drive off for a moment, and turned to the school. There were kids everywhere. Well, not kids. Teenagers. However, it wasn't like the movie kind: the geeks, the brains, the jocks, the cheerleaders, the chess club, and the preps. The _norms_. Everything was average.

She looked up, and noticed the large billboard in front of the school: Konoha Academy of the Arts. Great. Sure, it didn't have the jocks and whatnot: instead, it was based on competition. Great_er_. She sighed, and began to walk towards the entrance, which consisted of six marble steps, two unnecessarily large doors, and a _football, meet forehead_ greeting to her face. She fell to the floor and landed on her back.

"Son of a bi-"

"Sorry about that!" It was a loud, obnoxious voice. _Geez…_ thought Sakura. _My first day, and I'm already attacked?_

"I really am sorry! Here, take my hand."

Reluctantly, Sakura grabbed the hand. If it had been the first time Sakura had been smacked in the face by some kind of rubbery substance, she might have screamed and caused some kind of commotion. However, she had already grown accustomed to this kind of treatment. It usually waited until the second day of school, though.

"It's alright," she sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I'm a bit of a klutz myself. I should have seen that…"

For a moment, she stopped breathing. When she looked at the boy, she realized that she had never seen such beautiful, blue eyes in her life. They were a cerulean blue; a colour she had only seen residing on two people in her life: her mother and grandmother. His hair was sun kissed and spiky. _It suites him_, she thought, and smiled. Noticing the smile, the boy greeted her with his.

"Uhm, hey! I'm Naruto. Again, I'm so, so sorry about that! We were just playing around with the ball and Kiba over there-" pointing to a brunette boy- "wanted me to go long. I told him I didn't want to! He did it anyway. So, what's your name? You're pretty. Did I mention how sorry I was?"

Sakura stared at him, baffled. She had never heard someone talk so fast. Ever. His smile changed her first impression from a hyper-active blonde, to a sweet, caring knucklehead. He didn't seem _that_ bad.

Sakura giggled. "It's alright, really. My name's Sakura… Haruno. Thank you for the compliment – and yes, you've apologized about four times now."

"Oh, right," he said scratching his head. "Well, I should, kinda' get going. The guys might get jealous I'm talking to you," he noted, picking up the ball. "See ya – wait, are you new here?"

"Yes."

He stared, then breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew! Well, that's a relief. I didn't want to think you were a new student and realize later on that you were here last year! – by the way, I'm Naruto _Uzumaki._" He added, with emphasis.

Sakura smiled. "I'll keep that in mind, _Uzumaki_."

He smiled, nodded, then waved goodbye. Sakura did the same. Refocusing her attention to the task before her – making it to the front door without being attacked _again_ – she opened the two cathedral sized doors to reveal a cathedral sized foyer. _Everything_ was massive: from the tiles on the floor, to the K.A.A sign that hovered above it. When she looked up, she realized the two stories made out of glass. It was quite literally amazing.

"Whoa…" she mumbled. If she thought the outside was huge, she would be shocked to see the rest of the school. She looked around, and noted to her left was the office. Sighing in relief, she made her way towards the doors. They, too, were large – but made of glass. She opened the door with, sadly, great effort, and slowly walked in. She looked around the room, digesting that she was not the only one there; other than the staff. There must have been about fifty other students on the far side of the office waiting area, standing and sitting in the corner. _Why didn't I see them before?_ She thought.

Not sure where to go, Sakura walked over to the crowd. Most of them looked up in her direction; others kept their heads in their lap or turned. They all looked… terrified. This frightened Sakura. What was she supposed to be expecting here?

"Uhm, excuse me," she mumbled, "Do you know where I can see the principal?"

A young boy – who could not have been any older than fourteen – looked up at Sakura, and pointed towards a door. It read 'Principle's Office'. Mentally smacking herself, she thanked the boy, and made her way to the door.

"Eh-hem."

Sakura turned around, coming to come face to face with a small, stubby lady. Her nose was sharp and small, and she had tiny, sharp eyes. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun that pulled at the creases in her forehead. Her glasses sat at the rim of her nose, and she looked above them.

"May I help you with something, young lady?" She demanded.

"Yes," Sakura replied meekly. "I need to speak to the principal. May I go-"

"No."

Sakura took a step back, caught off guard by the sharp response. She knew that this woman didn't look like the kind type, but her tone was just… unnecessary. She sounded like a military sergeant.

"Uhm… Well, I'm new here, I just needed to speak-"

"You'll _speak_ with _me_; this way! I don't have all day you know." She shouted.

"Ma'am, quite frankly, I would prefer speaking with the principal."

Slowly, the woman turned to look at Sakura and spoke in a small, rubbish voice:

"I am the head secretary in this school. Do you see those teenagers over there?"

Sakura nodded.

"Do you know why they are there?"

Slowly, she shook her head _no_.

"They_ too_ are here to see the principal. _They _have been here since early this morning. _They_ are here for extreme purposes – which only Tsunade, the principle, can take care of. I am here to take care of students like _you,_ whoever you are. You must be new, since I don't recognize you. Now _come_ – I must get you registered." She sternly walked away, waiting for Sakura to follow in suite.

Baffled, she followed her into a small, dark office. It had a strong, uncomfortable caffeine scent that lingered. Sakura could tell this woman must have lived in here all day.

She gestured for Sakura to take a seat. "And take that bag off in here." She added.

"Now," she noted, "What is your name." Once again, it came more as a demand then a question.

"Sakura Haruno. I just transferred here, ma'am."

"Ah, alright. This will take a moment." She pushed up her glasses from the rim of her nose, and began to type rapidly onto here keyboard. Silently, Sakura sat in place and waited… and waited… and waited. _A moment my a-_

"Alright. I have your time-table here. It is now… eight-oh-five. The bell will ring in five minutes." She grabbed the time-table from the printer, and handed it to Sakura.

"We have no patience for tardiness or lates – so make sure you are attentive to every class. We have eyes all over this school."

She twitched, and picked up her bag. As she made her way towards the doors exiting to office, the woman spoke again: "By the way: have a wonderful day."

Sakura quickened her pace.

Now this was going to be a very interestingly, odd year.


	2. Newbie

_First, I'm physically attacked, then, verbally… this can't get any wo-_ Sakura quickly stopped her thoughts, before she could jinx herself any further. She had already suffered enough abuse as it was, and was definitely not prepared for any more. It would be more appreciated if it at least waited until she got a little more accustomed to the school.

She sighed, and realized that she had been walking into a completely different direction than she had intended to. She was so busy thinking about the abuse she had endured during the duration of thirty minutes, her mind steered her elsewhere. Huffing, she turned around and started her way into the other direction – only realizing that she really had no idea where she was going. This was the con to being in a massive school.

She looked around, and spotted a corner that no one was currently resided in. Quickly, she walked toward it, and propped her back against the wall.

"Well," she mumbled, "Since I don't know where the hell I'm going; might as well look at my time-table."

She opened the folder the secretary had handed it to her in, and pulled it out. It was a semester school. _Well, I guess that's alright_, she thought. Slowly, she scanned the table:

GRADE 11 SELECTED COURSE SHEET:

SEMESTER 1:

**Period 1: **Mr. Hatake – Careers – Room 315

**Period 2:** Ms. Shizune – Health – Room 112

**LUNCH: **11:20 – 12:00

**Period 3: **Mr. Sato – Instrumental – Auditorium (Number 2)

**Period 4:** Mr. Sasaki – Media Arts – Outside

_Well,_ she thought,_ At least I got all the courses I want. _For a moment, she scanned the Media Arts section. Why it would be outside, she had no idea. She pulled out her wrist watch and looked at the time: eight-oh-nine. School would begin in one minute. She sighed, and looked at the room number labelled next to her first period. It was on the third floor. Just amazing. She looked around, and realized the herd of students making their way into the building. This was her cue to get moving, fast. At least getting ahead of them.

Turning her head, Sakura realized the staircase to her left, and made a turn. The stairs were dangerous – no, demonic. There must have been easily five stories to the building. Thank goodness she would at least be going as high as the third. As fast as she could, Sakura ran up the stairs, clutching her bag behind her. When she made it to the top, she was taken aback by the intensity of the hallway. Its length was far and beyond – you could probably hear your echo. She made her way down the one-way glass hall, and stared down in amazement at the students making their way in. There were so many. It seemed like they were mere ants from where she stood.

The bell rang, catching Sakura off-guard.

"Shit!" she cursed. She ran down the halls, and began to notice the numbers on the doors changing… the opposite way. Instead of them going down, they went up. She was going the wrong way. She skidded to a stop, and made a U-turn, running back toward the direction she came from.

"312… 313… 314… There it is!" She ran into the class, but skidded to another stop when she realized something: no one was there. In fact, it seemed almost… deserted. Puzzled, she pulled out her table, and stared. Was she even in the right room? 315… apparently, she was. She slowly made her way into the room, analyzing it as she did. It was a small room – very small, actually. _Must be a small group of people, _she thought. As she made her way towards the seats, she also realized what was on them.

"Name tags?" She giggled. It was like elementary school all over again. She smiled, and made her way around the class, looking for her name. She found it, right beside the window. _Perfect. _She looked out the window, and stared. Right outside was a small, oval shaped lake. She wasn't sure how long she stared, but it was a beautiful sight.

Once she was settled enough to focus on other things, she decided to analyze all the other names next to hers. It would be interesting to know who these people were. One name in particular caught her eye.

She laughed out loud. "Naruto _Uzumaki._"

"Yeah?"

She snapped her head up, and realized who replied. Of course, it was Naruto. He stood at the door with his bag on the floor, droopy. _He must have been dragging it._ Slowly, he smiled when he realized who he had in turn replied to.

"Well, this is ironic," he laughed. "Wasn't expecting to see you in here. I guess it was fate when I said 'see ya later'." This made Sakura snicker, realizing what he meant. Picking up his bag, he made his way over and sat in the seat next to her. He looked out the window, and pouted.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

"Why do _you_ get the window seat?" He teased.

"Why aren't you in _your _seat?" She countered. Naruto stared at her, quirking a brow. Sakura smiled, and pointed to the seats. When he looked, his eyes widened.

"You've _got _to be kidding me…" he pouted. Sakura laughed, and patted him on the shoulder. It was amusing how fast Naruto could switch between moods. Beaming once again, he looked back up. "Well, I guess I'll just wait here until Mr. Hatake or teme shows up."

She stared at him. "Teme?"

Naruto stared back, then smiled in realization. "Oh right! You're new here! Silly me. Teme is my _best friend_. Don't worry; by the end of this class, you'll be familiar with him. His name's Sasuke."

"End of the class? He's in here?"

"Yup... unfortunately." He frowned, then leaned back into his chair. This puzzled Sakura. If this 'teme' guy was Naruto's best friend, why would he be disappointed if they shared a class together? Most people would be beyond enthusiastic. She opened her mouth to voice her question, before Naruto stopped her.

"I know what you're going to ask. Yeah, he's my friend: but the limelight is always on him. All the girls, all the fan clubs, the sports teams, probably even the guys are after him." He laughed at his own joke. Sakura looked up quizzically.

"Fan clubs? You can't be serious."

Naruto looked up, wide-eyed. "Try. Me."

Sakura laughed, and looked at the clock. It suddenly re-registered in her brain:

"Naruto… where the hell is everybody?"

Naruto looked around, and laughed. "Psh, you'll get used to it. Everybody and anybody who's in Hatake's class knows there's no rush. That man is never on time. _Never._" He emphasized again.

"Wish I'd gotten the memo sooner." She coughed. Naruto sheepishly smiled, and shrugged.

"Well, on the bright side, at least you and I can talk a little more." He smiled, causing Sakura to blush. Without effort, she realized that Naurto had started to grow on her – fast. _Really _fast. It wasn't until a herd of students came rushing in until Sakura noticed the 'strange' position her and Naruto were in: He had his arm around her lower waist, his face was mere inches from hers, and she was blushing. That's when a snicker erupted.

"Wow, Naruto; you just met her and she's already blushing?"

Naruto also realized the positon and pulled back. He let out a nervous snicker.

"Jealous, Kiba?"

The said boy went wide-eyed, and let out a guffaw. This confused both Sakura, and Naruto. They looked at eachother, and back to the brunette.

"Jealous? Seriously? Yeah right! I've seen better looking girls on a baby… poster…" Realizing what he was saying, he slowed down his speech. It wasn't intentional; he was just… _expressing_ himself. Sakura, however, did not appreciate this kind of expression. As she began to fir back, Naruto jumped in.

"Hah! Oh, Kiba, you joker-you! Don't worry Sakura, insults are kinda' like initiation here. It's just… normal."

Sakura quirked her brow, and fired on Naruto. "Well then, if it's so normal," she replied, standing up, "Why haven't _you_ insulted me yet, Naruto; hmm?"

He twitched, looking for an escape. However, when it came to Sakura, there was never an escape. "Well, uhm… Your hair is hideous. I mean, who has pink hair?"

Sakura's eye twitched. No, both of them twitched; badly. Sakura was very sensitive about her hair. Whenever someone insulted anything that had to do with her appearance, she would make sure that that person's appearance would be altered, fast. Naruto noticed this, and took a large step back.

"B-But, I love your eyes! They're very… green?"

_Idiot…_

Kiba took this as a wise opportunity to disappear.

Just as Sakura took a step, there was a parade of gasps in the room from the girls. Naruto dropped his shoulders, and rolled his eyes. He turned around, and called out to the person who entered the room. "Oi! Teme! You're usually here early, where the hell were you?! You missed this morning! I scored a girl by hitting her in the head with a football! Hah!" He pointed to Sakura, but quickly discarded his finger when he noticed Sakura reaching for it. Naruto quickly smiled, and gestured for his friend.

_Wait… did he call him Teme? So this is Sasuke?_ Thought Sakura.

Naruto reached out for his friend, and called to him. "Teme, I'd like-"

"Naruto, I'm warning you: if you call me Teme _one _more time, I will do both I and your _score_ a favour by breaking your fingers, and your jaw."

Naruto went wide-eyed, and looked to Sakura. She giggled, and looked to the floor. Naruto frowned, and looked back to Naruto. Suddenly, he was smiling with some sort of realization.

"Holy crap, Sasuke! I think those are the most words you've ever spoken to anyone in your life – at least you didn't 'hn' me this time."

Sasuke looked at him, and walked past, frowning at the name tags. "Hn."

Naruto sighed, and shrugged. "I give up." He announced, throwing his hands up. Once again, his eyes widened. "Oi, Sasuke. I haven't introduced you to Sakura yet!" He walked over to Sasuke, right as he was about to sit, and grabbed him. Sasuke stared at Naruto, and didn't budge.

Naruto sighed. "Alright, fine then." He walked over to Sakura, and grabbed her, dragging her towards Sasuke's desk. "Naruto, what the he-"

"Hush, Sakura! Gosh, you and Teme over here are both so stubborn."

"I told you not to call me-"

"_Sasuke_, this is Sakura. Sakura, Sasuke."

Sakura looked at Sasuke, and smiled. He was very handsome – probably one of the best looking guys she had ever seen. He had slightly pale skin, and dark, onyx eyes. His hair was short, but spiked at the back, and carried a blue tinge to it. When he too looked up to Sakura, she could feel her face grow very hot. His eyes were like X-rays; they just pierced right through her. Sakura reached out her hand for a shake: Sasuke stared at her hand, and didn't move. This caused Sakura to frown.

"Aw, c'mon, Sasuke, for once. I'll try this again, _Sasuke, meet Sakura. Vise-versa_."

Sasuke looked at Naruto, rolled his eyes, and put out his hand. _Might as well_, Sakura thought. She reached her hand back out, and shook it. Once their hands touched, Sakura felt a tinge of cold go through her arm. She was expecting the complete opposite, however. How could someone so hot, feel so… cold? She pulled her hand back, and put both of them behind her back. Sasuke stared at her for a moment, then looked back to his desk where his paper was. _How rude_, she thought. _Here I am being courteous enough to try and socialize, and he looks away. Nice._

Naruto looked to Sakura, and smiled in reassurance. He knew what she was thinking. Sasuke had reacted that was to everyone – even Naruto, when they first met. Sakura smiled back, and walked back to her seat. When she sat down, she refocused her attention back to the lake. It could almost cast a spell on her with its beauty. When she looked to the left of the lake, she noticed the garden beside it. Sakura smiled. _Cherry blossom trees…_

Laying her head on her desk, she looked back over towards Naruto's direction, and noticed him and Sasuke talking. Well, it didn't exactly seem like they were talking: it was more like Naruto rambling on about something that Sasuke was quite clearly not interested in. Actually, Sasuke looked beyond miserable. It was obvious he did not enjoy being there.

Just as the bickering got a little louder, it came to a quick halt. This caused Sakura to look up, to see what the hold up was. At the door stood a silver haired man. His face was covered with some sort of mask, and a scar covered his right eye. Sakura couldn't tell what his facial expression was: But it must have been something that the rest of the students could pick up on for three reasons: One, no one looked happy or shocked to see him. Two, students began to mumble something about 'here comes the excuse. And three, Naruto stood up, and verbally harassed him.

"Sorry students," he began, "There was an old lady crossing the street, and I just had to hel-"

"Oh, come on Mr. Hatake!" shouted Naruto, "You have to have a better excuse then that – actually, come to think of it, you've come up with every excuse possible…"

Some of the students nodded their head in agreement, while others simple shook it in utter disappointment. Whether it was in Naruto or the teacher's excuse, was unknown. Possible both.

Mr. Hatake smiled, and walked in. "Well, either way, I'm here, so hush. First off, for all of you students, I would like to formally introduce myself." He walked over to the chalk board, and wrote his name.

"My name is Mr. Hatake; and from what I am aware of, we have some _new_ students. I won't ask you to come up here an explain your entire life story, simply for two reasons: One, I don't really care-" everyone snickered – "and two, it would be much less humiliating on your part. So, in theory, just raise your hand if you are new here."

Sakura, along with a few other students, raised their hands. Everyone looked around to see who the new people were, and addressed them casually.

"Alright, alright, enough chatter. You can wait for that when I nap." Everyone smiled, and laughed. "Well, I don't usually give out assignments on the first day – let alone the first week – of school. But considering you all seem to have such a _wonderful_ opinion on my tardiness, I have just made one up for you in my head that will benefit on both my side, and yours."

Everyone groaned, and looked at Naruto. He smiled – nervously.

"The assignment is: get to know each other."

Everyone stared. A student in the back raised his hand, and everyone shot their head in his direction.

"Uh, but sir, how does that benefit you?" The class looked back at the teacher.

"Well," he replied, pulling out a book, "I get to read, and then sleep." He smiled.

The class looked around, shrugged, and got up to investigate on each others summers. This gave Sakura the opportunity to properly look over her schedule. As she pulled it out, and began to look it over, someone snatched it out of her hand. She rolled her eyes.

"Naruto, if you wanted to look at it, all you had to do was-"

It wasn't Naruto. Instead, it was another blonde: a female blonde. When Sakura looked at the girl very quizzically, she looked down to Sakura, and smiled. This made her even more confused then she already was. _Random girl walks over, and snatches my schedule. This isn't awkward at all_, Sakura thought.

"Oh, did I scare you?" She asked. Sakura continued to stare. The girl smiled. "Well, you're Naruto's friend, right? I saw you talking to him earlier. Any friend of Naruto's is a friend of mine. I'm Ino, what's your name?"

Sakura hesitantly replied. "Sakura."

Ino smiled, and brushed her hand through her long hair. "Well, I don't mean to scare you, Sakura. But I just can't believe that you still don't remember me."

Now Sakura was beyond confused. Remember her? From what she _remembered_, she'd never even met her. Ino stood at Sakura's desk, waiting for some type of response from the girl. Nothing. Instead, Sakura continued to questionably stare at the girl. Ino sighed.

She grabbed an unoccupied chair and sat in it next to Sakura.

"Well," Ino spoke, "let me see if this will make it any easier for you: We met when we were like... seven or eight, somewhere around there; you were being bullied, had a huge forehead, had bangs covering your face to hide it; I came over to help, gave you a new hairstyle… anything?"

Sakura continued to stare. She remembered a girl helping her a long time ago, but this girl looked nothing like her, from her memory that is. Ino mumbled something inaudibly, and spoke again.

"Yamanaka. Ino Yamanaka. Ring a bell yet?"

Suddenly, it clicked. Well, her last name did, anyway. It was never her first name that Sakura could remember, however the last name rang a bell.

"Your family owned a flower shop… right?"

Ino beamed. "Yeah! Now you remember." They both smiled, and laughed. Sakura couldn't believe that anyone would even recognize her. She had changed dramatically, both mentally and physically. She no longer had the large forehead – which she had now grown out of – and the tiny figure everyone had been so accustomed to making fun of.

However, it wasn't until the end of that day that Sakura would realize, there was a lot more to this school then just new faces.


End file.
